


Expectant

by iLurked



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Written Pre-1x16
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-15
Updated: 2014-03-15
Packaged: 2018-02-04 03:31:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1764177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iLurked/pseuds/iLurked
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“You dumb arse!” Jemma growled before kicking the already-injured Ward on his shin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Expectant

Even before Skye opened the doors to the lab (that also doubled as the team’s first aid station), she was treated to the sight of Jemma Simmons striding over angrily to where Grant Ward was standing.

“You dumb arse!” Jemma growled before kicking the already-injured Ward on his shin.

As Ward cursed in pain, Fitz gently brushed Skye aside so that he could enter before her. He glared at Ward before grabbing Jemma and leading her outside the lab, murmuring comforting words all the while. This he did before Ward can recover from the surprise attack.

It was almost funny, the sight of the diminutive Jemma Simmons going toe-to-toe with the looming giant that is Grant Ward. The two had been at it since they arrived at the Bus. (Skye had theorized more than once that there must be something seriously wrong with Jemma’s fear instincts.)

Ward moved to follow the two scientists, but Skye stopped him with a firm hand on his chest.

“Let’s get you patched up first,” she rolled her eyes as she grabbed a tube of glue. “To give the two of you the chance to simmer down.”

Ward sat down slowly and allowed Skye to minister to his open wounds.

“What was that all about?” she asked.

Ward let out a deep breath, desperately trying to reign in his temper. “She shouldn’t have done that.”

“What would she have done instead?” Skye asked, not unkindly. “Let you die?”

Ward’s lips thinned into a single, displeased line.

“Look, Ward,” Skye sighed. “I get that you see yourself as our protector, but one day, you’d have to let us fly out of the nest, you know? We’ve been trained by the best.”

Ward tried to smile at the compliment, he really did. However, his smile came out more as a grimace than anything else. “This is different.”

“Because it’s Jemma?”

He gave a swift, single nod. (One especially bad night, he had admitted to the hacker how he was frightened to the point of madness because of the overwhelming emotions he felt for the biochemist. And now, with this new development, he was hopelessly bewildered on how to cope. He was trained to hurt and kill people; but to love and care for them? He was at a loss.)

“She’s not as delicate as you people think she is.” Skye told him, mindful of the fact that all the men in the Bus, as well as Melinda May, treated Jemma like a delicate piece of china: carefully, preciously, with kid gloves. Not that Skye could blame them, there were times when she was as guilty as the rest of them of coddling Jemma.

Ward opened his mouth to argue, arguments Skye was sure were valid but nothing the brilliant Jemma did not think about before she did the things she did, but Fitz interrupted him.

 

“Jemma’s in the kitchen,” Fitz was still glaring at Ward. “She’s asking for you.”

Ward immediately shrugged on his shirt and went out. Fitz started puttering in the lab, not able to wait until later to recalibrate his latest invention.

That left Skye to follow Ward to make sure that he would not further agitate Jemma.

As Skye neared the kitchen, she saw Grant tentatively sit beside Jemma. Gently, he pried away the bag of frozen peas she was holding against her temple, where the barrel of the gun hit her.

“Did it hurt?” he asked as he gingerly touched the already darkening bruise.

“I was more surprised than hurt.” Jemma admitted. “The recoil from the gun was unexpected. Fitz promised to fix it.”

“Good.”

A pause, then, “I’m sorry for calling you a dumb arse. And for kicking you.”

“You should be,” he told her, gently pushing the frozen peas back on her face. “And I’m sorry for being, how did you put it? An overprotective buffoon. I might have overreacted a bit.”

“Might have?” Jemma raised an eyebrow. “A bit?”

“I overreacted.” he allowed. “I get scared whenever I think of you around Fitz’s untested weapons. But for you to actually fire one?”

“There were extenuating circumstances!” Jemma removed the frozen peas from her face and tossed them on the kitchen table.

“So I’ve been told.” he grasped her shoulders, as if by doing so, he would be able to hold her to him forever. “I won’t be able to survive if anything happens to you, you know.”

"And you think I could?” Jemma leaned back to glare at Ward. “You would have done the same thing in my situation.”

“I know.” he bit out. “I know. But Jemma, I need to know that you’re safe, that you’re being careful.”

“I am,” Jemma replied. “I am being careful. I would not have done it if there was any other alternative.”

“Thank you.” slowly, Ward’s hands slid from Jemma’s shoulders, down her arms, until they reached her stomach, which was already showing the beginnings of life that would further and forever unite the two of them.

At that point, convinced that the duo would not kill each other, Skye smiled and turned around to look for Coulson and May for the team’s usual celebratory beer (and cider for Jemma).

After all, they had just saved the world. Again.


End file.
